Last week, I read a beautiful romantic drama about the relationship between a young boy and a girl, one of whom is a vampire.

The story is set in the working class neighbourhood of Stockholm, in a run down housing development full of violent children (sadistic almost) and alcoholics with good intentions.

The book begins with Oskar, a disturbed, bullied child with no friends to speak of, who manages to make a connection with Eli – a vampire. The predictable does not happen.

I found myself embracing Eli, a victim of unfortunate circumstances, yet forced to live them out; one night at a time. The other characters in the book are fascinating and equally disturbing.

I was so fascinated by the book that I wanted to see whether the movie did justice to it! I was not disappointed.

The movie is not about pale, sparkly Glampires. It is everything Twilight wanted to be, achingly romantic, emotionally involving and expectedly terrifying.

The screenplay for the movie was done by Lindqvist himself and retains the character of the book. The sound and the music score throughout the movie is “nightmarishly great”. There are quite a few moments in the movie which linger on, long after the movie is over.

My favourite is, a key passage in the novel details what happens when Eli enters a room uninvited, an action that traditional vampire lore usually prohibits. The movie shows Eli slowly beginning to bleed from her eyes, ears. As Peter Bradshaw of ‘The Guardian’ described it as a “haemophilia of rejection”.

Watch the Swedish original with subtitles and not the American movie. The film has a 98% "Certified fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Beg, Borrow or Steal? - Steal.

 

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I watched the movie yesterday and this is a way better movie than The Da Vinci Code. I read Rajeev Masand’s review of movie and for once I feel he’s off the mark on this one.

Although some parts of the movie come off as absolutely unbelievable, Angels & Demons definitely works as a race against the clock whodunit thriller. I was particularly impressed by the sets of the Sistine Chapel and also St. Peter’s Square.

A must watch.

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I watched “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi” yesterday and I woke up today all grumpy and with a headache. I can’t believe I wasted a perfect Saturday evening watching this crap!

The only positive thing that came out of it was that I watched a pirated movie, which cost me way less than watching it in a movie theater.

I was just curious to find out what reviews this movie got online and this is what Rajeev Masand had to say.

When it's not peddling God and its theories on love, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is really an antiquated love story that is regressive, chauvinistic and plain stupid in parts.

Almost all of Aditya Chopra’s movie have bombed this year. I know I won’t be watching any of his movies for a long long time.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/masands-verdict-rab-ne-bana-di-jodi-is-contrived/80427-8.html

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Hours before the Iranian New Year, a seven-year-old girl begs her mother for money to buy a goldfish. The mother grudgingly relents, but, on the way to the store, the girl accidentally drops her 500-toman bill into an open sewer grate. In a relentless attempt to retrieve her money in time to purchase the much-coveted goldfish, she enlists the help of her enterprising brother and a varied cross-section of Teheran's marginalized citizens. A quiet, unpretentious gem about the beauty in everyday life.

I remember watching a few Iranian movies a decade ago on Star Movies, part of their children’s week celebration. I forgot the names of the movies and their directors over the years and all I could remember were the characters and the amazing storyline.

The brilliance of The White Balloon is in its simplicity which led it to win the Prix de la Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

I finally managed to catch the movie on UTV World Movies and boy was I excited!

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I must have seen this movie at least 4 times by now, in pieces. Every time I watch it, it takes me on a nostalgic trip back to the 80s. I suppose being a kid was a lot more simpler and loads of fun.

The movie is called Fan Chan (Thai) & My Girl (Eng). It was released in the year 2003 and was a major box office hit.

Jeab, a young man working in Bangkok, receives word that his best friend from childhood, Noi-Nah is to be married. While driving back to his hometown, the memories of his friendship with her come flooding back, and their story is told in a flashback.

They are best friends, even though their fathers are rival barbers with shops on each side of a mini-mart in the small town of Petchaburi.

Every morning, Jeap wakes up too late to catch the school bus. His father must then give him a ride on his motorcycle to catch up with the bus.

On the bus, we are introduced to Jeab, Noi Nah and all the boys, who are led by a big bully named Jack. They all talk about what they are going to do after school. The boys plan to play Chinese fantasy. The girls will play house.

Jeab longs to play with the boys, but they play in a park across a busy street, which he can't ride his bike across. So he's limited to playing with the girls.

There's a lot of humor in the film and all the children have given a good performance. A nice, touching story which makes it a good afternoon watch.

You should be able to view it on UTV - World Movies one of these days. I tried looking for the DVD at the some of the stores in Mumbai, no luck.

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